'My lungs were burning' - Youtube and Sidemen star Tobi Brown on training with Crawley Town

“For me it was a blow,” said Tobi after an intense session with the Reds. “The higher quality was expected but in terms of fitness, I haven’t played properly in about two and half months. I was breathing heavy, and my lungs were burning, but everything else was fun and enjoyable.”

Tobi and his brothers were invited to train with the first team after Crawley sent a scout to watch the recent Sidemen Charity Match. Manny and Tobi both scored against the YouTube Allstars whilst the event raised over £1,000,000 for chosen foundations.

“I hit the post once and held my own in the sprinting,” said Tobi on his session highlights. “I don’t think I did too great though.”

Tobi helped found the YouTube group, Sidemen who have got more than 17 million subscribers whilst Manny has over two million. Crawley are motivated to grow their online following however, their decision to potentially include one of the siblings in their FA Cup squad was met with significant contention from some fans.

“People were quite closed minded to this in the first place,” said Tobi. “They’re set in their ways and it’s very hard for them to come out of it. They see you as a YouTuber and nothing else. Whereas YouTubers prove on a daily basis you can do anything that you want to do.

“With our job you never kind of look further than where you’re now. You kind of just take every day as it comes. Look what I can make happen today and then the opportunities just come with it as a result.”

“Our job is so unpredictable,” said Manny. “You never know what opportunities can come your way or what kind of situation you can find yourself in. Something like this might seem alien now but also things can just pop out of nowhere.”

The youngest of the trio, Jed currently plays with Manny for non-league side Fisher FC. In a live stream ahead of the session, Tobi gave light to Jed having the potential of playing at a higher level. After the session, Tobi said, “One of the main reasons I agreed to do this with Crawley and WAGMI United was because I wanted to Jed a chance to get trained at a higher level. Everything he knows is self-taught and I want to see how far he can go with the opportunity I never had.”

The brothers all shared interests in at least attending Crawley’s FA Cup opener on Saturday if they aren’t selected for the official squad. Although unlikely, at least one of the trio could feature among the two extra substitute spots available to FA Cup games.